José del Mar Ordoñez
monKaaba — Colombia
José del Mar Ordoñez runs Finca Bella Vista in Huila, Colombia. In 2024, he joined the monKaaba producer group. In 2025, he achieved his first international sale under his own name through Semilla Coffee to us at warawul.
We are proud to welcome back Bella Vista Espresso — José del Mar’s honey-processed Pink Bourbon — for the second year in a row.
monKaaba
From an initial group of six founding families, monKaaba now includes more than 60 families and is beginning to extend its support to smallholder farmers in neighboring regions who have limited or no access to specialty coffee market prices. The impact of monKaaba's approach is already visible. Esnaider has noticed that the quality of production has increased among all producers involved in monKaaba and is now of a more consistent quality. In addition, many of the young growers who started by contributing to collective blends, such as La Colmena, have now started selling microlots under their own name for solid prices. This creates sustainable wealth for smallholder families and keeps younger generations interested in growing coffee.
IIn 2016, after many years working as a coffee picker, José partnered with a friend to take over a farm that had previously been used as pastureland. He started from scratch. The land had to be cleared and prepared before he could plant his first 3,000 Caturra trees.
A few years later, a plant disease known as “muerte descendiente” or “descending death” threatened to destroy everything he had built. To save the farm, José returned to coffee picking to earn the money needed to recover.
Despite these setbacks, he continued to grow. He planted new varieties such as Catimor and later Pink Bourbon. Encouraged by positive feedback on his coffee’s quality, José began experimenting with different processing methods. Bella Vista Espresso is the result of that dedication and continuous improvement.
Before joining monKaaba, José sold his coffee locally and to a few specialty companies. Through monKaaba, he was finally able to fulfill a long-held dream: exporting his coffee internationally under his own name.
We are proud to be part of José del Mar’s journey.